• This Day (Nigeria) aagm: Political Economy of Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria (2)

investing more in their businesses; 55 percent hiring more employees; 46 percent opening new plants and offices; and 45 percent increasing R&D activities. Conversely, more public company CEOs have reduced staff (28%), closed plants and offices (28%), reduced capital investment (22%), and cut back on R&D (7%) than their private-company peers.
"Private companies are a mainstay of the U.S. economy, serving as an engine of economic growth and job creation even when other business segments have stalled," said Richard Calzaretta, national practice leader, Private Company Services (PCS). "The recent data from this report supports the idea that the private company sector will continue to fuel growth and create new jobs in the coming months."
Heads of private companies, however, noted that growth could be derailed by such potential hazards as loss of key talent, which 55 percent of private company chief executives cited as one of the top three threats to their business, along with low cost competition (63%), and rising costs of social welfare/employee benefits (61%). Only 39 percent viewed employee loss as a significant threat - if not the greatest threat - when surveyed last year.
Cash is King
With 91 percent of private company heads agreeing that employee retention is a significant priority for management, 83 percent have already taken steps to hang onto valued employees. Cash is still king among private companies, with 81 percent of CEOs having already increased salaries or planning to shortly; 77 percent increasing cash bonuses; and 66 percent offering cash- based incentives. Eighty percent of private company CEOs already provide workers with educational assistance programs or are planning to do so. Surprisingly, increased health insurance is one of the least used lures to keep employees, with only 38 percent offering or planning to offer greater coverage.
GRC Also Private Company Priority
As issues of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) remain top-of-mind with public company CEOs, survey responses from private company CEOs show strikingly similar findings. Almost two-thirds believe that effective GRC is a value driver and source of competitive advantage. Private company leaders also view GRC as more than just limiting legal liabilities. A majority sees that effective GRC has some or a major impact on reputation and brand, relationship with business partners, and operational excellence.
Some 73 percent also either strongly or somewhat agree that there is a strong relationship between governance, risk management and compliance -- that is, they take a holistic view of GRC. Yet, very few are taking a comprehensive approach to implementing GRC policies and procedures. Only 22 percent and 15 percent, respectively, are fully conducting ongoing process improvements and monitoring or measuring GRC performance.
"While most people think of GRC as a public company issue, many private companies are clearly ahead of the curve in realizing that implementing aspects of compliance regulations can help minimize risks and open doors to new opportunities for their businesses," said Calzaretta, the PCS leader.
PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Private Company Services (PCS) practice is the only Big Four group of its kind dedicated to serving the private company market. PCS is an integrated team of audit, tax, and advisory professionals who specialize in understanding and addressing the unique needs of private companies and their owners throughout the business life cycle - from inception to high growth and maturity to transition.
PricewaterhouseCoopers ( http://www.pwc.com/ ) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services for public and private clients. More than 120,000 people in 139 countries connect their thinking, experience and solutions to build public trust and enhance value for clients and their stakeholders.
"PricewaterhouseCoopers" refers to the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.
Survey Methodology
For the 8th edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global CEO Survey, 1,324 interviews with CEOs were conducted throughout the world in the last quarter of 2004. The majority of interviews were conducted on the telephone, with regional exceptions in Japan, where a postal survey was administered, and in China, Kenya, and Nigeria, where face-to-face interviews took place. The research effort was coordinated by PricewaterhouseCoopers International Survey Unit, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in close cooperation with a team of project managers and members of a global advisory board of PricewaterhouseCoopers partners.
As part of this effort, PwC's PCS practice surveyed 117 midsized U.S. private companies (with predominantly more than $100 million and less than $1 billion in revenue). Participating private companies are from three broad industry groups: consumer and industrial products and services (82%), financial services (13%), and technology, telecommunications, and entertainment (5%). The private company data presented in this release is based on these findings.
Web site: http://www.pwc.com/
Document PRN0000020050502e152004my

ICICI, Lloyds TSB, Wachovia, Wells Fargo join global remittance boom
1,729 words

30 April 2005

Bank Marketing International

BMKI

1

English

(c) 2005 VRL Knowledgebank. All rights reserved. This article has been published by VRL Knowledgebank and can be found by visiting http://www.bankmarketinginternational.com
The global remittance market, still dominated by wire transfer firms such as Western Union and MoneyGram, continues to attract the attention of major banks drawn to the fee income remittance services can generate and the simple entry points they offer to untapped customers and market segments.
As the world economy continues to globalise and the numbers of immigrants, expatriates and economic migrants rise, the global remittance industry has become huge. In its April World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that the global remittance market amounted to at least $100 billion in 2003, a 25 percent rise on 2002 figures.
At the start of April, ICICI, India's second-largest bank, teamed up with both Lloyds TSB in the UK and Wells Fargo in the US - two countries with significant Indian communities - to offer innovative money transfer products.
According to the IMF, India is the world's largest recipient of remittance money, receiving around $7 billion in 2003.
Looking to take the lead in banking services for the world's large Indian migrant community, ICICI also has well-established remittance and linked account relationships with Emirates Bank and Commercial Bank of Qatar in the Middle East, Bank of Montreal in Canada and DBS in Singapore.
In April, Wachovia, the country's fourth-largest bank, rolled out its Wachovia Dinero Directo Card, part of Wachovia Cuenta con Todo, a new package of products for its Hispanic customers.
In the US - the largest source of remittances, from where some $30 billion was sent abroad in 2003 alone, primarily to Mexico, and other Central and Latin American countries - the remittance market has become very competitive.
Last month, both Bank of America (BofA) and US Bank, the country's second- and tenth-largest banks, respectively, announced new remittance services. US Bank has expanded its relationship with MoneyGram, and plans to offer MoneyGram services from all its 2,370 US branches by the middle of this year. BofA's enhanced version of its SafeSend account offers free transfer services in the crucial US-Mexico market for BofA accountholders.
In a report published in January this year called Consumer Money Transfers: Powering Global Remittances, the Aite Group, a US-based research firm, valued the global remittance market in 2003 at $213 billion, twice the IMF estimate.
Lloyds TSB, the UK's fifth-largest bank by assets, has joined forces with ICICI Bank, to provide free money transfers between India and the UK to the UK's 1 million-strong Indian community. Customers will also have access to an ICICI-branded rupee-denominated mortgage for Indian property purchases.
The service between ICICI and Lloyds TSB is the first of its kind to be offered by a UK retail bank and aims to provide a one-stop shop to help the country's Indian population manage their finances and property purchases, says Gordon Rankin, director of Lloyds TSB community financial services.
This service is one of a range of initiatives designed to help meet the financial needs of Britain's diverse communities, adds Rankin. Following a successful pilot, the Lloyds TSB India Banking Service is being rolled out in all branches of Lloyds TSB.
The process behind the product is relatively simple - customers open a Lloyds TSB current account in the UK after which an ICICI account is opened in India. Money is then transferred between the two.
Rankin says: "More than 1 million Indians now live and work in the UK and this number is on the rise. But the community's links with India remain strong and many British Indians have businesses, properties and families back home which they continue to finance."
The move by Lloyds TSB is part of a heavyweight marketing drive aimed at the UK's ethnic communities, differentiating the bank from its UK rivals HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays. In February, Lloyds TSB launched a Shariah-compliant Islamic bank account targeting the UK's 2 million-strong Muslim community.
And Wells Fargo too
ICICI Bank has also linked up with Wells Fargo, the US's fifth-largest bank by assets, to launch a new remittance service allowing customers in the US to send up to $3,000 a day from their US accounts to accounts in India for $8 per transaction. According to Wells Fargo, approximately one-half of the transfers to India originate from the 1.5 million Asian-Indians living in the US.
"The Asian-Indian community is a fast-growing, thriving market segment in the US. As such, we strive to offer a complete range of financial products and services our customers may need," says Daniel Ayala, head of Wells Fargo's cross-border payments group.
"Reaching out to the Indian market - the world's second most populous nation - is an important part of our global consumer remittance strategy, and further extends our ability to meet the financial needs of our diverse customer base in the United States."
Much like the Lloyds TSB-ICICI relationship, once a Wells Fargo customer opens an account, they can then use the Wells Fargo store, phone, online banking or ATM channels to transfer funds to an ICICI Bank account. Once the transfer is complete, funds are available in Indian rupees the following banking day.
"This alliance benefits from the extensive footprint and brand image of Wells Fargo in the US and ICICI Bank's strengths in India", says Bhargav Dasgupta, senior general manager and head of international banking, ICICI Bank.
In November 2004, Wells Fargo launched its International ATM Remittance account in the Philippines, another country which has a significant diaspora in the US.
Wachovia's Dinero Directo Card is focused on the world's busiest remittance markets: between the US and Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. Wachovia current or savings account customers can fund a Dinero Directo foreign remittance card using money from their Wachovia accounts. The recipient may then use the card at any ATM in the Visa/PLUS network, which consists of more than 950,000 ATMs in 160 countries. The funds are available immediately and the sender may add money to the card at any time.
"We've seen the amount of money sent from the US to [the wider Central and Latin America region] increase dramatically over the past several years," says Jorge M"ller, director of Wachovia's Hispanic segment strategy. "We combined this remittance product and other popular deposit products into one account offering, Wachovia Cuenta con Todo, to make it easy for customers to get the products they want in a convenient package."
A large and growing market still underdeveloped
The IMF's World Economic Outlook report was joined at the start of April by another report - Sending Money Home - Remittances to Developing Countries from the UK - published by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), a government body geared towards reducing global poverty.
In the first real study of its type, the DFID analysis compared around 18 firms, such as money transfer services and leading UK retail banks, which can send typically small remittance amounts, of £100 ($190) or £500, to Bangladesh, China, Ghana, India, Kenya and Nigeria. In addition to the Caribbean, these countries are the main destinations for remittances from the UK.
The DFID survey revealed just how fragmented the UK remittance market currently is. Costs and services vary enormously and consumers are unable to effectively compare and judge services across the board. In response to this, the DFID set up a comprehensive website, www.sendmoneyhome.org , which contains details on the main remittance firms and retail banks in the UK, as well as information about fees, exchange rates, security and risks.
The DFID hopes to inject a bit of competition into what is seen as an underdeveloped, uncompetitive, opaque and expensive market that overcharges poor and low-income consumers for what are relatively simple and cheap services. "A key reason for this initiative is that increased transparency and dialogue between consumers and financial services firms may help towards reducing the costs of sending remittances by fostering competition and innovation," says the DFID report.
"Creating environments conducive to increasing flows via formal channels will also increase access to other financial products such as deposit and savings accounts, thereby reducing financial exclusion."
In its report, the Aite Group put the global remittance market in 2003 at $213 billion, twice the IMF estimate. Aite said that the market will hit $289 billion in 2007. According to the group, the top four US wire transfer companies - Western Union, MoneyGram, Vigo and DolEx - increased their global share of the market to 18 percent last year, from 12 percent in 2000, added Aite. The four handled 40 percent of outbound US transfers in 2004.
Vital for world growth
The IMF says that remittances are vital for world growth and the effective distribution of wealth to the developing world. It adds that remittances have proved remarkably resilient in the face of economic downturns - they help improve a country's development prospects, maintain macroeconomic stability, mitigate the impact of adverse shocks and reduce poverty. "Significant benefits might flow from measures to reduce the cost of sending remittances, for instance by removing barriers to entry and competition in the remittance market."
For many developing economies, remittances constitute the single largest source of foreign exchange, exceeding export revenues, foreign direct investment (FDI), and other private capital inflows. Even where remittances only have a minimal growth effect, they could have a marked impact on welfare. To the extent that the poorer sections of society depend on remittances for their basic consumption needs, increased remittances would be associated with reductions in poverty, and possibly inequality.
Again, the relatively stable nature of remittances suggests that countries with access to significant remittance inflows may be less prone to damaging fluctuations, whether in output, consumption, or investment. In extreme cases, remittances might reduce the probability of financial crises. "Remittances also have the potential to bring a larger share of the population into contact with the formal financial system, expanding the availability of credit and savings products such as education loans, mortgages and savings accounts," said the IMF.
It adds: "Interest in remittances and their impact is rapidly growing, whether in policy circles including the G8, among the research community, or, indeed, among potential remittance service providers."
Document BMKI000020050506e14u00001

Nigerian Satellite First in Africa - LI
by Chike Onwuegbuchi

411 words

28 April 2005

04:05 PM

All Africa

AFNWS

English

(c) 2005 AllAfrica, All Rights Reserved
Lagos, Apr 28, 2005 (Daily Champion/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
Nigerian communication satellite bid for launch in 2007 is the first Chinese satellite bought by any African nation.
An official with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Mr. Li, disclosed this during President Olusegun Obasanjo's visit to China.
He described the satellite export as a "milestone" in China's history in space, "the satellite called Dongfanghong IV, will be put into orbit by a Long March 3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Space Launch Centre in Southwest China's Sichuan Province sometime after next year.
"China Aerospace will also help to train Nigerian technicians," Mr. Li said. Adding that so far China has sent 28 foreign satellites into space.
The trip is Obasanjo's third visit to China after assuming the presidency in 1999.
During a meeting with Obasanjo, President Hu Jintao said Nigeria has become China's major trade partner in Africa and the two countries enjoy rapid growth co-operation in the fields of oil and gas exploration and infrastructure construction.
Hu suggested the strategic partnership develop by focussing on four aspects:enhancing political negotiation through high-level official and other personnel exchanges, increasing bilateral trade and two-way investment, strengthening co-operation in key fields and reinforcing negotiations in international affairs to protect the interests of developing countries.
Obasanjo, also the rotating president of the African Union, said Africa and China should continue to seek common prosperity by strengthening friendship and co-operation, saying Africa is hoping China can support and take part in the process of resolving the conflicts in the region and enhance co-operation in the fields of trade, investment and agriculture.
The two presidents also witnessed the signing ceremony of five agreements; two of them are governmental agreements on economic, trade and investment co-operation and the rest concern communications business.
As part of the agreements, Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd will deploy US$200 million worth of CDMA450 wireless access technology across Nigeria and has also committed to an additional US$20 million manufacturing investment in Nigeria.
"Nigeria is one of our major overseas markets and it has great potential" said Huawei President Ren Zhengfei.
According to Wang Junqiang, Huawei's representative in Nigeria, the wireless access technology will provide the necessary coverage to address the current telecommunications digital divide between rural areas and cities in the African nation.
Document AFNWS00020050428e14s0016h

Council of Ministers' Decisions
623 words

28 April 2005

Bulgarian News Agency

BTA

English

(c) 2005 Bulgarian News Agency BTA. All rights reserved.
Sofia, April 28 (BTA) - At its regular meeting Thursday the Government passed the following instruments:
- A national programme on Bulgaria's participation in the international activities of the Council of Europe in 2005. The programme is based on proposals from the interested departments.
- A list of countries from which Bulgaria will take refugees. It has two parts: a list of safe countries of origin and a list of safe third countries. Bulgaria considers safe third countries all signatories of the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees. The list of safe third countries includes Bosnia and Hercegovina, Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro and Ukraine. On the list of safe country of origin are Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey, Ukraine, Bangladesh, India, China, Algeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania.
- A decision to propose for parliamentary ratification the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (1976) and the protocol of amendments of 1996.
- An agreement with the Netherlands on social insurance. The agreement was signed in Sofia in february by Labour Minister Hristina Hristova and Dutch Ambassador Henriette van Lynden.
- A decision to propose for parliamentary ratification a grant aid agreement between Bulgaria and the World Bank in its capacity as executive agency of the Global Environmental Facility. Under the agreement, Bulgaria will receive 10 million US dollars for improving energy efficiency.
- A decision to propose for parliamentary ratification an agreement whereby Bulgaria will receive from the European Commission 314,169.37 euro for fighting fraud affecting the financial interests of the European community. The agreement was signed March 21, 2005, between the Bulgarian Interior Ministry and the European Commission. The Bulgarian contribution for the programme that will be funded by this agreement stands at 16,535.23 euro. Beneficiaries under this programme of the EU are all new EU member states: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, as well as Bulgaria and Romania.
- A decision to cell concessions for four port terminals: Varna West, Svishtov, Balchik and Oryahovo. The bidders are required to prove financial stability and meet certain investment requirements.
- A decision to relieve Marin Raikov Nikolov of his duties as permanent representative of Bulgaria with UNESCO and to appoint in his stead Irina Georgieva Bokova, the Bulgarian Ambassador to France.
- A decision to propose for parliamentary ratification an amendment to the Financial Agreement between Bulgaria and the European